As a mother kissed her newborn baby in St Munchin’s Regional Maternity Hospital in Limerick, she was told her daughter was dying in her arms, an inquest heard.

Doctors working in the country’s maternity services have warned of a threat to the lives of mothers and babies if a predicted exodus of midwives, in an effort to avoid pension cuts, takes place next month.

ON a day when a born-again coalition renewed vows, it was only appropriate Bertie Ahern should spend some time in a maternity hospital.